Mar. 14, 2026, 4:59 PM EDT

President Donald Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chairman is threatening to revoke the licenses of news broadcasters over their coverage of the Iran war.

Brendan Carr, the head of the agency, warned broadcast news organizations on Saturday to “correct course,” following the president’s rants over news coverage of his war with Iran, including stories about U.S. aircraft tankers sustaining damage in a strike.

“Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions – also known as the fake news – have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,” Carr said in a post on X, without naming any media outlets. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.”

The FCC did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.

Carr referenced a Truth Social post from Trump Saturday morning denying reports that five U.S. Air Force refueling planes were struck at a military base in Saudi Arabia. Trump directed his screed at the The Wall Street Journalwhich first reported the news, The New York Times and “other Lowlife ‘Papers’ and Media,” claiming they “actually want us to lose the War.”

In his own social media post later in the day, Carr pointed to Trump’s 2024 election win as an example of the lack of trust in the media from the American people.

“When a political candidate is able to win a landslide election victory after in the face of hoaxes and distortions, there is something very wrong,” the FCC chairman said.

Carr’s threat was met with immediate blowback from free speech advocates and political figures.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the threat “flagrantly unconstitutional.” Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a frequent Trump critic on the right, condemned it as “unacceptable and unamerican.”

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a First Amendment advocacy group, called Carr’s statement an “authoritarian warning,” adding, “Again and again, Carr’s tenure as FCC chairman has been marked by his shameless willingness to bully and threaten our free press. But even by Carr’s standards, today’s hypocrisy is shocking — and dangerous.”

Carr, an author of Project 2025 whom Trump hand-picked to run the FCC, has sought to use his powerful position to bend media outlets — and late-night talk show hosts — to the Trump administration’s will. Under his watch, the FCC has opened investigations into multiple news outlets and threatened to strip the licenses of broadcasting companies deemed to have covered the administration and the president unfavorably.

But his latest missive took the administration’s assault on what the president routinely calls the “fake news” a step further. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said in an X post, “This is a clear directive to provide positive war coverage or else licenses may not be renewed. This is worse than the comedian stuff, and by a lot. The stakes here are much higher. He’s not talking about late night shows, he’s talking about how a war is covered.”

Trump and members of his administration have repeatedly bemoaned the media coverage of the war. Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused the press of being too focused on American troops’ deaths than the military’s successes.

“But when a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it’s front-page news,” Hegseth said. “I get it; the press only wants to make the president look bad. But try for once to report the reality.”

He again criticized the press on Friday for reporting on the economic fallout of the war.

“Some in this crew, in the press, just can’t stop,” he said.

Late on Friday night, Trump railed against coverage of the war, saying on Truth Social: “The Fake News Media hates to report how well the United States Military has done against Iran.”

Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.

Mar. 14, 2026, 2:12 PM EDT

President Donald Trump’s political action committee this week sent a fundraising email promising donors “private national security briefings” by the president himself and featuring a photo from the dignified transfer for U.S. service members killed in Kuwait.

“For the first time ever, I’m opening up spots on the National Security Briefing Membership,” reads the email, from Trump’s Never Surrender Inc. PAC.

“As a National Security Briefing Member, you’ll receive my private national security briefings, unfiltered updates on the threats facing America. The straight truth on border invasions, foreign adversaries, deep state sabotage, and every danger the fake news hides,” it continues. “You’ll get the inside scoop DIRECT from me, President Trump, the leader who’s rebuilt the greatest military in history, and put America First like no one else.”

The email includes a black-and-white version of an official photo taken by the White House showing the president in a white “USA” baseball cap saluting a transfer case during the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on March 7.

Several links in the email lead to a donation page.

The White House and the Pentagon did not respond to MS NOW’s request for comment on the fundraising email pegged to the Iran war and what the offers of “national security briefings” would entail.

Trump is not the first political figure to make offers of special access to big donors, Daniel Weiner, director of the elections and government program at the Brennan Center for Justice, noted in an interview with MS NOW.

“In this instance, obviously it would be a blatant violation of the law to disclose any sort of classified information or secret information to donors. But assuming that they’re not actually doing that, it’s hard to see that there’s anything illegal about any of this,” Weiner said.

But the use of a photo from the dignified transfer of U.S. troops who died in the line of duty to raise funds is notable.

“To have that imagery used for partisan advertising and fundraising, that’s a bridge, you know, a new bridge that we’re crossing,” Weiner said. “But it’s more of a question of norms.”

Mar. 14, 2026, 6:05 PM EDT

President Donald Trump is asking other countries to send warships to the Middle East to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the vital gateway off the coast of Iran for the world’s oil supply.

“Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated,” Trump wrote Saturday in a post on Truth Social as the U.S. prepared to send thousands of additional troops to the region.

“In the meantime,” the president vowed, “the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline, and continually shooting Iranian Boats and Ships out of the water.”

The U.S. embassy in Baghdad, meanwhile, urged all American citizens to “leave Iraq immediately,” warning that Iran-backed militias have carried out numerous attacks on U.S. citizens and targets throughout Iraq.

In an exclusive interview with MS NOW’s Ayman Mohyeldin on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi railed against the Trump administration, saying, “We didn’t start this war. It was an unprovoked, unwarranted, illegal act of aggression against us, and we are only defending ourselves, and we continue to defend ourselves as much as it takes and as long as it takes in order to end this war in a way that it won’t be repeated in the future.”

He also said there was “no problem” with Iran’s new supreme leader, ‌Mojtaba ⁠Khamenei, who Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday was “wounded and likely disfigured.”

The U.S. struck more than 90 military targets Friday on Kharg Island, Iran’s major oil export terminal, in what appeared to be an effort to pressure Iran to open the strait.

Trump first announced the strike in a Truth Social post Friday night, saying the island’s oil infrastructure was left intact. But he threatened to strike its oil facilities “should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz.”

The U.S. hit naval mine storage facilities and missile storage bunkers on the island, among other military sites, according to U.S. Central Command.

Roughly 90% of Iran’s oil is exported from Kharg Island. The strike has not appeared to deter Iran, however. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard said its Navy remained in control of the Strait of Hormuz and reiterated that vessels “belonging to aggressors and their allies” are barred from the waterway, The New York Times reportedciting Iranian media.

“Any attempt to move or transit will be targeted,” it added.

Reuters also reported that the IRGC claimed it has a right to target U.S. interests in the United Arab Emirates in self-defense and warned civilians to evacuate ports, docks, and U.S. military shelters.

The helipad at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad was struck Friday, according to The Associated Pressthough no party has taken responsibility for it.

In the interview with MS NOW, Araghchi denied that Iran was targeting civilian infrastructure in neighboring countries.

“What we are doing in as an act of self defense is to targeting American bases, American installations, American assets and American interests, which are unfortunately located in the territory of our neighbors,” he said, adding, “So what we are doing is only the principle of an eye for an eye.”

The war with Iran is entering its third week with no apparent end in sight. More than 2,000 people have died in the Middle East, with death tolls highest in Iran and Lebanon, where Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah are leading to what human rights organizations say is a humanitarian crisis.

The Israeli military said Saturday that it “eliminated” Abdollah Jalali-Nasab and Amir Shariat, two senior Iranian intelligence officials who were close to regime leadership.

Oil prices hover near all-time highs as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed to shipping vessels. Trump said Friday that the U.S. Navy will start escorting tankers through the strait “very soon.”

The U.S. is sending up to 5,000 additional service members, including the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, and several additional ships to the Arabian Sea, a U.S. official with knowledge of the matter told MS NOW.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.